Summary
Skills Validation is a KnowledgeFlow assistant that checks whether your college’s programmes and modules match what employers and skills bodies say your area needs. It draws on the national and local skills reports, labour market data and Government strategies in your college’s library. You get a clear view of where a specification meets those needs, where it falls short, and what to do next.
Before you start
- The specification you want checked. This is what the assistant compares against the skills evidence. Upload it or paste the text. A fuller specification gives a more specific review, but a short description works too.
- Local guidance in your college’s library, if you want a local review. Every college starts with the same national guidance, chosen and kept up to date by FEA-I. Local guidance, such as your area’s Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP), is added only if your college provides it. Without it, a review against your area’s needs can only draw on national evidence. To add local guidance, give it to your FEA-I contact, or email support@leadingai.co.uk to discuss.
How it works
It names the reports behind each finding. You do not need to ask for this. It is there so you can check the evidence and quote it in your own paperwork.
It says when the evidence is not there. If your library has nothing on a sector, an area or a recent change, it tells you plainly and points you to the source to check. An invented statistic in a programme case is worse than no statistic.
Try it now
The quickest way to see what Skills Validation does is to ask it about a subject area you teach.
- Choose Skills Validation from the assistants list in the left-hand menu.
- Type a question, such as: “What skills are employers asking for in construction, and how is demand changing?” Use a sector your college knows well.
- Press Enter and read what comes back.
You should get a direct answer first, then the evidence behind it with the reports named, any gaps or uncertainties, and a short list of next steps.
You will know it worked when you can name the report behind each main point without searching for it yourself.
The two ways to use it
Review my specification against skills/employer requirements
- Use it when: you have a programme or module specification and need to know how well it matches what employers and skills bodies in your area are asking for.
- You get: a review in four parts — the main finding, the evidence for where it meets requirements, the gaps and opportunities to strengthen alignment, and practical next steps. Each point sits on its own line.
- Note: this button focuses on your college’s own area, not the whole of the UK. How local the review can be depends on the local guidance your college has added.
Ask a question
- Use it when: you want to know what employers need, what labour market data shows for a sector, or what Government strategy says. It also works for talking through a programme idea before you have a specification.
- You get: for a short factual question, a plain answer with no headings. For a fuller question, the same four parts as a review.
- Note: every answer ends with next steps, even a one-line one. This is by design.
Walkthrough: reviewing a specification
- Start the review. Press Review my specification against skills/employer requirements and upload the specification, or paste its text. A draft or outline works too, so you can test an idea early.
- Answer any questions it asks. The review is only as specific as what it has to work from.
- Read the main finding first. It tells you how much work is ahead.
- Check the evidence. If every report cited is national and you expected local, your college’s library may not hold local guidance yet.
- Work through the gaps. Each one is a specific point to take to your curriculum team.
- Ask follow-up questions. Ask it to expand on a gap or look at one module in more detail.
- Export the review. Use Word to edit it or PDF to share it. Find it again later in your chat history.
Getting better results
- Start with a programme your team knows well. You can only judge the review if you can judge the evidence.
- Share the full specification where you have it. Learning outcomes and content give it more to compare.
- Name the sector and level in questions. “Level 3 engineering” gets a sharper answer than “engineering”.
- Turn on Deep Analysis Mode for specification reviews. It suits comparing one document against several reports. Responses can take longer.
- When a finding reads thin, tell us which report it should have used. That shows whether the gap is in your college’s library or in the assistant’s instructions. It is the most useful feedback you can give us.
What it will not do
- Search the web. It works only from your college’s library and the specification you share. It cannot see a report published since your library was last updated, or live job vacancy data.
- Know your area without local guidance. It knows your area only through the local guidance your college has added.
- Invent evidence. It will not make up statistics, employer quotes or report references.
- Approve your programme. It reviews alignment and suggests actions. Validating or signing off a programme stays with your college’s own process.
- Add your upload to the library. A specification you upload is visible only to you. It does not join your college’s library, so colleagues cannot see it and it does not feed into future reviews.
- Export or store anything itself. Skills Validation writes the review. KnowledgeFlow handles uploads, exports and chat history.
Common questions
It asked me a question instead of reviewing my specification. Is it stuck? No. It asks when it needs more to go on. Answer, and the review runs.
It said the data does not cover my question. Is it broken? No. Your library has nothing on that point, so it tells you rather than guessing. Check the source it suggests, or ask whether the report could be added.
I asked for a review against our area’s needs, but it only cites national reports. Your college’s library probably holds national guidance only. Give your local guidance to your FEA-I contact, or email support@leadingai.co.uk to discuss adding it.
Why does a short answer still end with next steps? Every answer is designed to close with actions you can take. It is not padding.
Next steps
Run a review of one programme your team knows well, check the findings against your own knowledge of local demand, and send us your feedback. We use it to tune the assistant’s instructions and review your college’s library with you.